Can we romanticize video games the same way we do books?

Like you hear all these things about how you can curl up with a book on a rainy day and smother yourself with blankets but anytime you hear anything about video games it’s always about how you’re wasting your life away yelling into a headset as you play Call of Duty in a basement?

Imagine bundling yourself up on the couch, the sound of rain hitting the roof, and calling people the N word on game chat for a few hours. Or getting home after a long day of work. You pour yourself a cup of Mountain Dew, waifu body pillow by your side and discriminate against women and minorities for a few hours not giving a second thought to the outside world. Semester just got out? Throw on some Witcher 3 and just take a night to breathe and enjoy.

You aren’t wasting your life away, you’re enjoying it. Games can be just as much of an escape as books, except you get to be a part of the story.